Mount Aspiring's summit seen from its Northwest Ridge

Mount Aspiring is the centerpiece of Mount Aspiring National Park on New Zealand's South Island. It is also the only peak above 3000m outside of the Mt. Cook area to the north. The peak is set back in a wilderness and for the most part, isn't visible unless you hike up the deep West Matukituki Valley. Mt Aspiring dominates the alpine-scape from the Hollyford to Haast Pass. There are very few roads that give you access to the park.

Stopping at Lake Pukaki enroute to Wanaka

Crusing in the Kiwi hotrod

The most popular way of accessing the park is from the town of Wanaka. A road follows the southern shores of Lake Wanaka to the green flowering Matukituki Valley where the road becomes unpaved. Drive another 45 minutes and ford a few small streams before reaching the end at Raspberry Flats.

enroute to Bevan Col

French Ridge (center) and Mt. Aspiring (upper left)

Mt. Aspiring is surrounded by three spectacular glaciers (the Bonar, Therma and Volta) and therefore requires glacial travel for anyone attempting to climb it. The most common routes are the Southwest Ridge via the French Ridge or the Northwest Ridge via Shipowner Ridge and Bevan Col. The approaches for both routes are via the West Matukituki Valley and the Raspberry Flat carpark.

The Southwest/French route is shorter but more advance. A steep and undeveloped route leads from Pearl Flat in the Matukituki Valley to French Ridge Hut. Beyond the French Ridge hut, you'll reach the upper portion of the Bonar Glacier. Passing the 'Quarterdeck', you'll eventually reach the Southwest Ridge.

A helicopter touches down on Bevan Col.

The Northwest/Bevan Col route is longer but within reach of most people who have moderate mountaineering skills. Give yourself a day and a half to reach Colin Todd Hut / basecamp located on Shipowner ridge. The track deteriorates towards the end of the forest and opens up into a bouldered meadow at the head of the West Matukituki Valley. 1300 meter walls of rock and ice and countless streaming waterfalls stand at the end. The grueling climb out of the valley and up to Bevan Col can be difficult with a large pack and requires good navigational skills (see commented photo near the end of this page when we climb down it). Rock slabs are climbed towards Hector Col and finally along a snow 'rib' to Bevan Col. At many times, the 'rock slabs' require the use of ropes to raise or lower people and their packs as it's very steep, slippery and covered in flowing water. The Slabs also provides no mercy if one were to slip, so rope up!

Roping up to cross the glacier, Mount Aspiring stands behind.

If you're pressed for time, many people, as we did coming in, can take a helicopter flight to or from Bevan Col, thus cutting off one to two days from the trip. From Bevan Col you can look across the beautiful Bonar Glacier and see your first clear view of the glimmering peak of Mt. Aspiring. From here you rope up and start your glacial crossing to Shipowner Ridge on the far side and eventually to Colin Todd Hut, just below the Northwest Ridge.

Crossing the Bonar Glacier

Jay crossing the Bonar Glacier.

Bonar's hanging end

Climbing Shipowner Ridge

Colin Todd Hut has a remarkable view, looking across the Bonar Glacier and the snow capped peaks beyond. The hut can be full most of the time, so bring a tent. Also, there are rain water collection tanks for drinking water, but were empty when we were there. so be ready to melt snow if needed.

Camping out

Views of the Volta Glacier as the sun rises

From Colin Todd Hut you scramble up the rocky ridge until you reach the slopes of the Iso Glacier. Once you rope up and put on your crampons, march up the glacier until you reach the saddle (pass) of the Iso and Therma Glaciers, where you then follow the start of the Northwest Ridge.

Typical routes up the Northwest and Southwest Ridges. Viewed from Bevan Col.

While traversing the Northwest Ridge, the rule of thumb when crossing the rock towers is to either climb straight over it or climb around the left (Therma Glacier side) of it. I recommend bringing sneakers (tennis shoes) or some kind of flexible ankle shoes in your day pack for climbing up the rock towers. We found it very difficult to climb them while wearing stiff mountaineering boots. The ridge is composed of brittle sharp rocks that crumbles easily. We managed to climb around and over a number of rock towers before coming to an impasse. We decided it was getting beyond our ability and turned around. We weren't disappointed, it was amazing every step of the climb just getting here.

Climbing around one of the towers of the Northwest Ridge

Jay climbs back down as we reach an impasse (at least for us) along the ridge.

One final look at the summit before turning around. Below the summit is the upper Northwest Ridge and the Therma Glacier.

Reaching the Iso-Therma pass on our way back down.

Jay stops for a photo as we climb down the Iso Glacier, Aspiring's summit still visible.

Climbing down the Iso Glacier

A crevasse in the Iso Glacier.

Once we climbed back down to Colin Todd Hut, we packed up camp and headed for Bevan Col across the Bonar Glacier. At Bevan Col, the views opened up and we were able to look down into the deep West Matukituki Valley, and then fully comprehend how much elevation we still had to lose.

PHOTO 1: Looking from the 'Rib', below Bevan Col, towards the West Matukituki Valley

PHOTO 2: Hiking past a trail marker and through the start of the vegetation.

PHOTO 3: The bottom of the 'Rock Slabs', we ended up using ropes to lower our packs and climbed down wearing our sneakers.

PHOTO 4: Jay climbs down last of the scree and finally reaches the upper West Matukituki Valley floor. Another full days hike is still ahead.

The upper reaches of the West Matukituki Valley in late summer (February 2007). This is the common route between the low laying Matukituki Valley floor and the higher Bonar Glacier plateau, off to the right of Bevan Col.

Waterfalls cascade down from the melting glaciers high above.

Hiking along the flowering West Matukituki Valley

The trail becomes well beaten.

Camping

When climbing via the Northwest Ridge, most people camp at Colin Told Hut on Shipowner Ridge. Bring a tent as space in the hut is limited. Even if you camp, you can still use the water tanks at hut, however the time we were there, they were empty. We ended up melting snow for cooking and drinking.

Getting There

During the summer months, there's a shuttle bus from Wanaka to Raspberry Flat carpark. Getting to Colin Told hut requiers a long hike up the West Matukituki Valley to its head waters. You can also helicopter to Bevan Col, just before the Bonar Glacier.